Queen Isabella: Treachery, Adultery, and Murder in Medieval

Queen Isabella: Treachery, Adultery, and Murder in Medieval England

Isabella arrived in London in 1308, the spirited twelve-year-old daughter of King Philip IV of France. Her marriage to the heir to Englandâ€™s throne was designed to heal old political wounds between the two countries, and in the years that followed, she would become an important figure, a determined and clever woman whose influence would come to last centuries. But Queen Isabellaâ€™s political machinations led generations of historians to malign her, earning her a reputation as a ruthless schemer and an odious nickname, â€œthe She-Wolf of France.â€

Now the acclaimed author of Eleanor of Aquitaine, Alison Weir, reexamines the life of Isabella of England, historyâ€™s other notorious and charismatic medieval queen. Praised for her fair looks, the newly wed Isabella was denied the attentions of Edward II, a weak, sexually ambiguous monarch with scant taste for his royal duties. As their marriage progressed, Isabella was neglected by her dissolute husband and slighted by his favored male courtiers. Humiliated and deprived of her income, her children, and her liberty, Isabella escaped to France, where she entered into a passionate affair with Edward IIâ€™s mortal enemy, Roger Mortimer. Together, Isabella and Mortimer led the only successful invasion of English soil since the Norman Conquest of 1066, deposing Edward and ruling in his stead as co-regents for Isabellaâ€™s young son, Edward III. Fate, however, was soon to catch up with Isabella and her lover.

Many mysteries and legends have been woven around Isabellaâ€™s story. She was long condemned as an accessory to Edward IIâ€™s brutal murder in 1327, but recent research has cast doubt on whether that murder even took place.

Isabellaâ€™s reputation, then, rests largely on the prejudices of monkish chroniclers and prudish Victorian scholars. Here Alison Weir gives a startling, groundbreaking new perspective on Isabella, in this first full biography in more than 150 years. In a work of extraordinary original research, Weir effectively strips away centuries of propaganda, legend, and romantic myth, and reveals a truly remarkable woman who had a profound influence upon the age in which she lived and the history of western Europe.

Engaging, vibrant, alive with breathtaking detail and unforgettable characters, Queen Isabella is biographical history at its finest.
Country USA
Manufacturer Ballantine Books
Binding Hardcover
ReleaseDate 2005-10-11
UnitCount 1
EANs 9780345453198

Country	USA
Manufacturer	Ballantine Books
Binding	Hardcover
ReleaseDate	2005-10-11
UnitCount	1
EANs	9780345453198

Queen Isabella: Treachery, Adultery, and Murder in Medieval England

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